Kim Kardashian, who in recent years has become an advocate for criminal justice reform, last week visited a camp in the mountains of Northern California where incarcerated men serve as firefighters, often deployed on the front lines of the state’s largest wildfires.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection posted photos of the visit, saying Kardashian had visited Growlersburg Camp No. 33 in El Dorado County and met with several crews to “learn more about the program and show support.” The camp, Cal Fire noted, is jointly operated by the California Department of Corrections and Cal Fire. Incarcerated people are trained to pursue careers in firefighting when they are released, the post said.
Kardashian, who was joined by her sister Kendall Jenner, later posted more pictures of her visit to her own Instagram account, which, with 361 million followers, draws quite a bit more attention than Cal Fire’s Amador-El Dorado Facebook page. Kardashian wore a black off-the-shoulder turtleneck and black sneakers; the firefighters wore orange fireproof jumpsuits with heavy duty boots.
“These incredible men are incarcerated firefighters saving our state, homes and communities from fire,” she wrote, adding that the firefighters can clear their criminal records and “go into firefighting” when they get out.
Several people jumped into the comments section of Kardashian’s post to proclaim that they had seen their family members in the photos.
“That’s my son in the back of the fifth picture,” one woman wrote. “Thanks for cheering on those boys.”
Kardashian, who became a worldwide celebrity thanks to her family’s reality show and social media, met Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House for a roundtable on criminal justice reform earlier this year. And last week, she announced on her Instagram page that she had recently visited the Justice Department in Washington to discuss inmates “who have taken responsibility for their crimes … and are ready to come home from our prisons and be with their families.”